Museums and galleries

The museums, galleries and monuments range from a series of historic buildings strung along the crowded medieval Royal Mile, to the spacious grounds of Lauriston Castle overlooking the river Forth at Cramond. The city centre skyline is dominated by the Scott and Nelson Monuments. Just off Princes Street, the City Art Centre is both home to an outstanding collection of Scottish art and Scotland's premier temporary exhibition venue. Highlights:

The National Museum of Scotland

The National Museum of Scotland –two iconic buildings, one amazing museum. The collections in the landmark Museum of Scotland building tell  the story of Scotland its land, its people and culture. The Royal Museum building, with its magnificent glass ceiling, houses international collections covering nature to art, culture to science.

National Gallery of Scotland

The National Gallery of Scotland, oldest of the five Galleries, is situated in the heart of Edinburgh on The Mound, between the ancient Old Town and the Georgian New Town. It is home to Scotland's greatest collection of European paintings and sculpture from the Renaissance to Post-Impressionism, and is one of the very finest galleries of its size in the world. Known today as the Royal Scottish Academy Building, and a major venue for exhibitions, the Gallery also boasts the largest and most comprehensive collection of Scottish paintings in the world.

The City Art Centre

Located in the heart of the capital, with six exhibition galleries, the City Art Centre, which opened in 1980, is Scotland's emporium of the visual arts. It is both home of the City's collection of Scottish Art, and one the UK's leading temporary exhibition spaces. The scale and range of the programme has made the gallery one of Britain's most visited exhibition centres. The City's fine art collection consists of around 3,500 works of Scottish art: paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints, photographs, sculpture and tapestries, including works by McTaggart, Fergusson, Peploe and Eardley.

Edinburgh Museum

The Museum of Edinburgh is home to important collections relating to the history of Edinburgh, from prehistoric times to the present day. If you know the story of ' Greyfriars Bobby ', you will be thrilled to see his collar and feeding bowl, and the original plaster model for the bronze statue in Candlemaker Row.

One of the museum's great treasures is the National Covenant, signed by Scotland's presbyterian leadership in 1638, while the collections of Scottish pottery and items relating to Field Marshal Earl Haig are of national importance.

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